Truth from the Word of God
by StevieD
Summary: A series of lessons from the Word of God addressing several common yet false doctrines that religious denominations practice.
1. Introduction

Alright, this work Truth from the Word, is a series of chapters in which I will be using what I have learned from the Word of God to deny some of the common and incredibly false beliefs people set store by today. There are hundreds of these wrong beliefs, ranging anywhere from Predestination to beliefs about our relation to the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant. Perhaps you hold beliefs such as these. If you do, I encourage you to read atleast a few of these chapters with an open mind, and using the Bible along with me. Do not go to the Word of God with a message, because that it is most effective way to practice falsehoods and the doctrines of men, but instead study thoroughly the Word, testing all that you believe to see if it is true or false.

This series of studies, or 'lessons' as you might call it, are not directed toward those who do not believe in God or those who do not believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, or else that it is not dependable because of so called "corruptions" in the text over the years. I believe, and I am unbreakable in this belief, that if the Word of God was not perfect, then we would know, for sure, that no God existed, because either God is perfect, and those things that he establishes and are meant to be perfect are perfect and forever remain perfect, or there is no God and we as Christians are of all men most pitiable.

I believe that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, as is stated in 2 Timothy 3:16. If you do not, then the discussion I will make in the following chapters will not benefit you at all, because you have no moral standard. The Bible is the only moral standard, and if it is not legitimate, then we have no moral standard.

May this study be beneficial to all of you, to help you become more knowledgable in all things spiritual. If you would like to submit questions or perhaps start a discussion, just send a review or send me a message. I will not respond to ridiculous, immature, illogical challenges, responses, or beliefs. If you want to discuss something with me, it must be in a mature state of mind, and you must study the subject you wish to discuss before hand.

I suggest to you all a great podcast that spreads the truth to tens of thousands of people every day. My congregation started this podcast about two or three years ago, and we have had responses from dozens of states, and there are over 10,000 people who listen and watch regularly. The link to the podcast is

Go there and listen. It's a great way to help you find the truth.


	2. Predestination

A largely believed doctrine is the theory of predestination, the idea that, before God created the world, long before anyone was born or even created, God chose _specific individuals _to be saved, and other individuals to be lost. Those who believe in predestination also believe that nothing and no one can save someone who has been predestined to be lost, and vice versa. No sin can condemn the saved, and no great deed can redeem the lost. Also, it is concordant with the Calvinist belief that those who are predestined to be saved are transformed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually so that they do not desire to sin. Well, if you have any knowledge of the Bible at all, you can tell me that this belief is false. Hopefully, over the course of this 'lesson', you will see why. Perhaps if you are of the Calvinist faith, and you believe in the supposed reality of predestination, you will compare your belief and what I am about to tell you, test it at every angle, and then decide what you believe.

It is necessary that I explain both sides. There are a few verses that I know of that Calvinists use to defend predestination. One such passage is Ephesians 1:4-6 which says:

**"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."**

Now, as I stated in the previous chapter of this document, the Bible must be perfect. If it is not, then there is no God and there is no reason for us to believe in any God, and no moral code for us to live by, therefore meaning that we could abide by any sort of evil practices without eternal consequence. Basically, chaos would ensue. So, if you believe in God, then you believe that his Word is perfect, without contradictions. Based on this belief, we can compare this passage with other passages. If they contradict each other under the light of one belief, then we know that that belief is wrong, therefore we must abolish that belief. In the end of this lesson, I will show that predestination is that false belief, and must be abolished.

So, Calvinists use this verse to defend predestination. It clearly says that God made a decision about our salvation before the foundation of the world. That's true; God decided long before he created the human race that a certain GROUP of people (not certain individuals) would be saved, and some wouldn't. The lost group are sinners, those who have not been saved. Those who will be saved are those who do the will of the Father in heaven:

Matthew 7:21: **"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."**

Jesus specifically teaches that to be saved you must do the will of God the Father, and that EVERYONE who does God's will shall be saved. According to sentence grammar, this cannot be denied, so obviously, according to this verse, all who do the will of God the Father shall be saved. Does it mention the term predestination? Does it say that certain individuals will be saved no matter what and that, being the good, righteous people that they are, they will desire to do the will of God? No. Does it say that some of the people who do the will of the Father are predestined to be lost for eternity, and that even though they follow God completely, they shall not enter the kingdom of heaven? No, both ideas contradict this verse, meaning that both are invalid.

Now, a stubborn Calvinist that desires to choose his own belief more than to find the correct belief could combat this verse by saying: "All those who are predestined to be lost are incredibly evil people, and never call on the name of the Lord."

Well, that's wrong. Because Jesus says in the passage that there will be lost souls who will call on the name of the Lord, and shall still be denied heaven because of their disobedience. Keep this in mind: they are not denied access to heaven because they were predestined by God to be lost, but because they were disobedient. That shows that ANYONE, by conscious decisions can be saved or lost. They have free will, and only they can decide if they are saved or lost. God has given that privilege to them. Do you deny it? Then you deny the legitimacy of the scriptures, the perfection of God, and you therefore deny the very existence of God. Why? Because this verse very PLAINLY teaches the reality of free will.

Another scripture we can turn to in order to distinguish truth from falsehood is 1 Timothy 2:3,4 which says:

**"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, whose desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."**

I hope you immediately see why this contradicts the theory of predestination. God desires righteousness, God is the very _standard _of righteousness, so of course he would be righteous. If he desires all men to be saved, don't you think it would be possible for men to be saved on their OWN account? Yes! If he desired for all men to be saved, why would he _force _certain individuals to be lost for eternity, with them having no choice in the matter? That doesn't make sense at all.

These are just two of many verses that contradict the theory of predestination.

Mark 16:16 - **"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."**

Obviously, anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. There's not distinction between those who have been destined to be lost, and those who have been destined to be saved, so we must come to the conclusion that there is no such distinction, and that predestination of individuals is false. Human beings have free will, and we decide by our obedience or disobedience whether or not we want to accept God's incredible gift of salvation.

Like I said, there are many other places in the Bible that you could go to if you wanted to determine whether or not predestination is wrong.

I have undeniably offered complete proof that predestination is **_false._** If someone is so stubborn that they do not listen to what I have told them and change their beliefs, then they do not seek truth, and God is not with them. That ends this chapter. I've given you three verses that clearly and obviously contradict the false theory of predestination. If you have any questions or you would like to have a MATURE discussion with me, don't hesitate to send me a message.


	3. The Law of Moses

Another belief I've heard running around is the idea that we still are bound by the Law of Moses, the Old Law. I really don't know how people get this out of the Bible. It's as if they don't read it for themselves, really, that's how easily see-through this belief is.

So, down to business. Why don't we follow the Law of Moses?

1 - The Law of Moses was only and ever a law to the Israelites. God brought _them _out of bondage in Egypt so that they could become a mighty nation, as God promised Abraham (Genesis Chapter 17). All the complex rules and regulations that you can read about in the Old Law were centered around the Jews, and the tribes in it. Never in the Old Law is there a commandment to the Gentiles. It was a law only for the Israelites.

Now somebody might say "Well, if someone didn't follow the Law of Moses, how were they saved?" as if there was no reasonable answer to that question. Well, they would worship God the way people did before the Law of Moses was given to the Israelites. What did Cain do? He offered animals to God on alters, and God was pleased with his worship (Genesis 4:4). I challenge you to find a verse that says that Gentiles were ever supposed to follow the Law of Moses.

2 - If you're going to follow part of the law, you have to follow all of it. You know, whenever I hear someone reference the Ten Commandments, or tell you that we can't do something because of what's told in the Ten Commandments. ie. Thou shalt not kill. That's a big one. But it seems like people never read James 2:10, which says that if you're going to keep the law, you have to keep it all (READ IT!). Are you going to build altars and sacrifice animals to God? I've never heard of anyone doing that. Are you going to stone adulterers and adultresses? No. People just want to keep the Ten Commandments because they just want to or because that's what they were taught growing up.

3 - This is the big point. This chapter really isn't going to be a very long one because it's so easy to argue my point. Get out yo Bibles and turn to Galatians 3:23-24:

**"But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."**

Pretty simple, right? Right from the beginning, the Old Law wasn't meant to be perminent (Read chapter 8 of Hebrews). The Israelites had a better covenant to look forward to, a faultless covenant, whereas the Old Law was not faultless, as God had planned (Hebrews 8:6,7).

Alright, let's summarize.

1 - The Old Law wasn't meant for Gentiles, only Jews.  
2 - Even those who claim to follow the Old Law these days don't, because they don't follow the hundreds of minute laws given to the Jews in the Old Law.  
3 - Even for the Jews, the Old Law was meant to lead up to Christ, and after all Messianic prophecy was fulfilled, it would be done away with (Read Matthew 5:18).

Got it? Not very complex or hard to understand. Really, all someone has to do is read the Word of God, and most of the beliefs people hold up today, such as predestination, just crumble to the ground. As I said, if a belief contradicts the Word of God, it isn't the Word of God that's wrong, it's their interpretation of it. If a so-called God made something imperfect, or allowed it to be corrupted over the years, then that supposed God is neither deity nor real, because deity does not make mistakes.

Alright, that's the end of this chapter. I'll try to update soon. Probably Friday the 22nd. Until then, review this, and maybe send in some suggestions of false beliefs that you want me to deal with. If there aren't any, I'll prolly go with the subject of Baptism, another VERY simple subject that you really can't misinterpret with any knowledge of the Scriptures.

See ya,  
StefanBeta110


	4. Mary Worship and The Trinity

**Author's Note: **As hard as this may be for some of my reviewers to believe, this publication is not for the purpose of being exciting and creative. The point is to teach my views to people who have the interest to learn. If you do not want to know what the Bible says, then, obviously, you should probably click away from this story right now, and not bother reading the rest. Go ahead, click that red X in the top right corner of your internet browser, or just go to a different Bible story. I know this is not as exciting as reading about how Mary fell in love with Joseph and the love story they had raising Jesus and his half brothers, and I'm sorry that I don't like to create figments of my imagination to add to the Bible. The Bible doesn't need to be added to.

Anyway, I got 4 reviews from people who liked what I'm doing, and 4 from people who don't, so that's enough for me to continue.

**Chapter 4: Mary Worship and the Trinity  
**

Well, someone reviewed and said they'd like to read my beliefs about Mary Worship and/or the Trinity, so I thought I would oblige. I'm always open to suggestions, as long as they're not for me to stop making these documents.

My views on Mary Worship? All I can say is that I can't find a place in the Bible that gives us permission to worship Mary, or even implies that it would be a good idea. John 4:24 says that we should worship **God **in spirit and in truth. As far as I know, we are only supposed to worship God. I doubt God would want us to worship a human being. Mary Worship was a Catholic idea that became a tradition, and was never an inspired command or example given in the Bible.

In summary: We shouldn't Worship Mary.

Now, on to the Trinity. Like the topic of Mary Worship, this isn't a very big topic either. First of all, I believe that the Trinity exists and that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are three separate beings, but are equal and in complete unity with each other.

Now, the Bible says that there is one God, doesn't it? And yet, in multiple places it gives reference to multiple Gods. Genesis 1:28 says "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;'"

So, unless God has some sort of multiple personality complex, the Bible tells us of multiple Gods.

So how can there be one God, and yet more than one God? Well, the word God can be used in two different ways, I believe. You can say God to mean an individual God, like God the Father or God the Son or God the Spirit, or you can say God to mean all three deities at once. After all, we've already said that the three deities are united. So couldn't the word God allude to the union of all three deities? I think that it must.

That's my view on the Trinity. Three separate deities that form one united group that we call God.

That's all for this chapter. As I said before, if you want to know what I think of a certain Bible related subject, just review and tell me what subject you want me to talk about and I'll try to get to it. Also, I'll say this again: if you don't like informational documents about God (in case you're wondering, I'm talking about this one), then don't bother reading or reviewing, because both would be pointless.


	5. Godless Morality

I was reading my reviews and I saw someone, I think his name was Generic Character, say "I do not need God to have a moral code." I don't really know what brought that up, but that statement got my attention. It's one I've heard before, and I guess I see where Generic Character is coming from. However, I can't say that I agree with him at all.

The problem with his argument is, is that it seems like he's claiming that humans somehow invented their own perception of good (their morale code) without really having a standard to begin with. That doesn't make sense.

Look at it this way. Someone wants to know what constitutes a 'good' watermelon. So he goes to a fruit stand and asks the farmer to show him what a good watermelon looks like. The farmer knows all about good watermelons, of course, because he grows them. The farmer shows the curious person how a good watermelon has a certain green color to it, shows him or her that a watermelon produces a hollow sound when you flick it, and that a watermelon's fruit should be a medium red color.

So the person has that good watermelon as a standard to know whether or not a watermelon is really good or not.

The Bible, God's teaching, is our standard. God is good, and everything that is good exists because of God. Without God to first tell us what is good (as he already has, whether you realize it or not) how would we know what is good? And, by that same token, how would we know what is bad? We wouldn't.

So, in conclusion, 'Godless Morality' as it might be called, does not exist. You can't already know what is good without having a standard to compare by. God is our standard.

Please Comment. And give a sensible comment, please. No "The world is better without this stupid stuff being added to it." If you have opposing views, please state them maturely, and if you have a belief you would like me to address, say so in your review and I'll get to it.


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